CategoryEscapades

It was January and I flew to Chicago for a quick trip. Within seconds of stepping out the jet, the cold air hit me so hard that it reminded me of when I got a C in Biology class and my mom rewarded me for it…with a belt.

Mistake # 1: Visiting Chicago in January

On my way to the hotel, the Uber driver said, “It’s nice and warm outside.” I replied, “but it’s 20 degrees out and it’s snowing!” He said “yes, but it was way colder before! You picked a great time to visit!” A chill ran through my body, as if my brain was giving my body a foretaste of what was to come.

I checked into my hotel and bundled up, then I walked to the bike station to get my transportation for the day. Yes, I chose to use a bicycle to get around…in the snow.
Hey, I never said that I was perfect.

Mistake # 2: Riding a bicycle in the snow, while believing that my skin is impermeable to coldness

I purchased a 24 hour riding pass, hopped on the bike, rode 10 feet, hopped off the bike and returned it to the station. When I looked at myself in my iPhone’s front facing camera, I was purple like Violet Beauregarde from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory. The cold was far too intense for me so I needed reinforcements.

I got a winter hat, gloves and a scarf, then I hopped back on the bike, ready to ride to my first destination. The wind made my eyes look like I was crying, so I wore some 3D glasses that I found in my pockets. I looked like Frozone from the Incredibles, but my eyes didn’t tear-up anymore, so I was good. After riding for 45 minutes, my body was frozen in the riding position and when I walked it looked like I was getting ready to do a breakdancing move.

I went to a high-end juice store called Owen + Alchemy. Their juices were sold in glass bottles as if they’re serving a magical elixir to a member of the British royalty. I settled on two drinks: A cashew / honey-nut milk, and a sweet-potato / carrot / apple / cinnamon / ginger / sea-salt juice. The cashew milk was great! As for the sweet potato juice, I have no idea how it tasted because…

After getting these mistakes out of the way, I had a great time! Riding around by bicycle turned out to be a good decision because it was a nice way to see the beauty of the city. Also, the hotel (whose name I couldn’t pronounce) was a beautiful place to stay for 24 hours in a great location.

After the quick trip, I flew back to New Jersey, where the flight attendant had a nice warm demeanor as she handed me a warm towel to clean my hands before presenting me with a warm banana bread and a warm scone with a warm tea on the side. When I asked her about all of the warmth, she told me that I looked like I needed it because I was “…walking as if [I] rode a bike through the snow for 12 hours.”

In 2010 I stumbled on the best deal I’ve ever seen in my lifetime: Pay $500 and fly as much as you want on Jetblue for a month. This was like buffet-style flights and my little heart was overjoyed! I gladly handed over my money and came up with a plan to visit the places that I’ve always wanted to see. I visited Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Puerto Rico, and Florida over the course of a month and then the pass expired. It was one of the best experiences of my life, but thinking back on it made me realize that I blew a great opportunity!

I only traveled on weekends even though I was allowed to use my 18 paid-time-off days at work. In my mind, the company would suffer too much while I was gone so I didn’t want to leave at such a crucial time. I also didn’t travel to any international destinations because it made me uncomfortable. There were also times when I cancelled flights in order to stay home and lay in my bed because it took too much effort to pack and drive to the airport. In the end, I missed out on what could’ve been a significantly more fruitful experience because I was overthinking things and I didn’t fully recognize the amazing opportunity that I had in front of me.

I once read that you’re more likely to regret the things that you don’t do rather than the things that you do. This became real for me when I realized that I missed out on the chance to fly to Aruba, Jamaica, Colorado, South Carolina, and Maine for free. After this realization, I try to constantly take advantage of every opportunity I have because the future is not promised.

My latest travel opportunity came a few weeks ago when I got to to fly on my favorite jet of all time, The Cessna Citation X, and visit one of the top cities on my to-visit list: Houston, Texas. I was fortunate to stay at a wonderful artist’s loft, which had such great amenities such as a saltwater pool, a koi pond and a deaf dog.

Here are some photos from my trip:

They say that the Citation X is the fastest business jet of all time and can travel to almost Mach 1. Our top speed was about 575mph, but it has still earned itself a spot on my Christmas list this year.

Houston has the COOLEST traffic lights

I went to a place called Les Givral’s Cafe that sold the best sandwich and coffee ever and the sandwich was only $3.75. The coffee seemed to be sweetened condensed milk mixed with espresso and ice. It made my tastebuds very happy. I loved that sandwich so much…

This Water Wall outdoor exhibit was the most relaxing place to sit and read.

Houston was great…now I understand why Beyoncé mentions it so often in her songs!

If you’re into astronomy, you already know that largest craters in our solar system can be found on the surface of the moon or on New Jersey’s streets. The potholes that are on the streets of NJ from January through August are large enough to swallow medium sized cars or severely crack wheels on low-profile tires.

I earned myself a slight hairline fracture in my rear passenger wheel that allowed air to leak at a speed slow enough to avoid a flat tire, but quickly enough to annoy me on a hourly basis. Eventually I became tired of putting air in my tire every 8 hours, so I took the wheel to Jorge at the tire shop for his expert opinion. Jorge’s solution: “I’ll just superglue it back together.” Um… I’m no tire expert, but I’m pretty sure that superglue isn’t strong enough to hold back 45psi’s of air traveling at hundreds of revolutions per minute. But he said “trust me!” I trusted him.

I shouldn’t have.

Somehow, the expert’s superglue trick made the air leak quicker, which left me with a flat tire. Conveniently, I also didn’t have tire changing equipment, so I made a call and roadside assistance quickly changed the tire. I drove to Tesla and they loved the story of the superglued wheels. Then they quickly put an end to this exciting chapter of the crater chronicles by putting my original, smaller wheels back on the car and retiring my 21″ wheels forever! Thanks, New Jersey!!!

** Side note: do you see what I did with the title? TIRE’d of craters?!? HA! **

As I walked to the helicopter that awaited me on the landing pad, I was in disbelief that I was going to be air-lifted to a jet. As if my own disbelief wasn’t overwhelming enough, the people around me caused me to constantly question if this was actually happening. The man who walked me to the helicopter asked, “is that entire helicopter for you?” I responded “yes, I guess so…” Then as I boarded the helicopter, the pilot turned and asked “are you the only person who will be flying?” I responded, “yes, I guess so…” Then as we departed for the 20 minute ride to the Westchester airport, we landed alongside a jet. As one of the men walked me to the plane, he asked “that entire jet is for you?” “Yes, I guess so…” Then I stepped onto the jet and the pilot said “that helicopter was for you and you’re the only passenger for the jet as well? Wow” “Yes…I can’t believe it either!” Then as the pilots filled out some paperwork for the international flight, a few of the airport workers stealthily peeked inside the jet to see who was inside—I guess they assumed that I was a big deal instead of regular ol’ Geremy.

This flight was the start of the wonderful one-week trip in the amazing city of St. Johns, located in Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada. For a place that I didn’t even know existed a week prior, it sure exceeded my expectations in every conceivable way. The food was great, the people were eerily friendly, the weather was great (especially for a place that’s known for its bitter cold weather), and the historic sites were breathtaking. It was the perfect location to work on the Peculiar PPL brand, and the beautiful scenes influenced a lot of things that will be released soon, including the new website. It was also quite cool to stand at the most easterly point in North America for a few minutes, which means that for a few minutes, there was no one in North America that was more east than me! Can I put that on my résumé??

The best piece of advice that I can extend to anyone reading this is: Go to St John’s, Newfoundland…and take me with you, please!

After we left the airport, we immediately went to the South Beach area for scooters. The shop owner must have had it out for me because she gave me a scooter with a broken fuel gauge, a maximum speed of 11mph, and a very moody ignition that was never in a good mood. Here’s one of the moments when I needed it to start and it wasn’t in the mood:

Even though the scooter was rebellious, rarely started after it turned off, and fell apart while I drove it (I had a pocket filled with scooter parts that fell off), it was lots of fun. We rode around the city for about 5 hours and explored the entire Miami Beach area in record timing. Then we went to play basketball.

Basketball was fun because I won. I didn’t just win, I demolished. This paragraph won’t make my cousin too happy because sometimes the truth hurts.

After an intense game of basketball, we retired to the hotel to spend the remainder of the night. Since we were only staying at the hotel for a couple of hours and had an early flight, we chose a place that was near the airport for a reasonable cost. We were pleasantly surprised once again when we went to the room and it exceeded our expectations with its full kitchen and new fixtures and appliances. However, this hotel had one massive downside that seemed to affect me the most.

We were in the middle of a game of monopoly on our iPads when I leaned over to turn on the air conditioner. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a cockroach that was the size of a Nissan Altima. It stood right next to my bed and froze when he saw me. I immediately yelled, “THERES A ROACH ON THE FLOOR!!” With reflexes of a jaguar pouncing on its prey, my cousin sprung off his bed and landed on the floor within a foot of the roach. We quickly strategized on how to end the roach’s life and since my cousin demonstrated a stellar reaction time and exceptional speed upon hearing about the roach, we agreed that he’d be the one to introduce the roach to his Roachy God. He grabbed my sneaker and prepared to crush the roach and the next few seconds happened in slow-motion…

As he lowered my sneaker onto the roach, the roach looked at the sneaker with an expression that said “I AINT DYING TODAY! I’VE GOT A WIFE AND KIDS BACK AT HOME!!” Then he quickly ran under the air conditioner to freedom. My cousin’s speed and prowess was no match for the roach’s wit and agility. But the huge problem was that I had to sleep in this room with a rabid, intelligent cockroach! I called the front desk and explained the cockroach situation and they said “sir, it’s 1am and we can’t do anything about it. Call back at 9am.” This solved nothing since our flight was at 7am. So I slept with one eye open to protect the both of our lives.

The next morning, we boarded our flight for New Jersey and we were in the air for about 20 minutes when the pilot mentioned that something was wrong with the plane and we had to land immediately. Surprisingly, everyone remained calm as we circled around for 30 minutes to burn off fuel. Then the pilot made another announcement that sent everyone into a panic. You could hear the stress in his voice as he sternly announced that everyone must stay in their seats and shouldn’t move AT ALL. Suddenly, the flight attendants rushed over to the exit row behind me and said “are you all ready to help everyone survive if something happens to the plane?? This is the moment that we told you all about! Review the emergency pamphlets now!!” The girl behind me immediately started hysterically crying, which made a number of people panic. The situation became more intense when the pilot told us that the airport doesn’t want us to land until the hospital is prepared to handle all of us in case something happens…how comforting.

When we finally landed, we had a wonderful welcoming party on the ground that consisted of fire trucks (that repeatedly circled the plane), police cars and ambulances. They cleared us to disembark and then we spent the next couple of hours in the airport hanging out in a seemingly abandoned terminal. Seven hours later, we were back in the air and enroute to Newark, New Jersey where we landed safely a few hours later. The best part was when my local Tesla service center sent a Tesla P85D to pick me up from the airport and take me to my car because they’re great people and heard about my wonderful ordeal.

Despite the rabid roach and the frantic flight, everything was all good when I returned home…alive!

When I was in first grade, I had a friend who was a well-known thief. He would steal things directly in front of people and immediately deny that he did it. I remember him stealing a pair of sneakers from someone’s gym bag, wearing it to school the next day, and denying that the sneakers were stolen. “But Wilton*, the sneakers that you’re wearing have my name written down the sides…they’re mine!!” At this point, he was too far into the lie to abandon it, so with the confidence of 11 Kanye Wests, he replied, “no, my name is Elizabeth too!!” I went to Mexico last month, and it reminded me of my friendship with Wilton*, because although the fun times were really fun, I had to stay on guard because at any moment I could fall victim to a number of different unethical acts of crime.

Prior to my cousin and I landing in Cancun, we thoroughly researched all travel tips for visitors of Mexico, as if we were preparing to write a doctoral thesis on the country. One recurring comment that past travelers left is that corruption in the country is rampant, even among the police and government officials. Because of this, we were on guard from the moment that we landed. Well…I was significantly more guarded than my cousin—probably because I used to listen to too many rap songs that said “don’t trust these streets and always pack heat!”

Shortly after arrival, we went to get the rental car that we reserved and there were 5-6 people who immediately approached us because we probably seemed like easy targets. They basically told us that Budget Car Rental is out of business and our only option was to book our car with their shady service for 5x the price. Unfortunately, my one semester of Spanish didn’t prove to be too helpful as I responded with the only phrase that I learned in Spanish: “Por favor, abra la ventana.” Eventually we got our car and we were on our way to the condo where we would spend the next few days.

The condo and it was ridiculously nice for a ridiculously low price. On the first day, I kept expecting someone to show up and ask us what we were doing in their room. Luckily, this did not happen, but on the third day of our stay, I looked onto our balcony and saw someone climbing into it from the outside. Were we being robbed?!? Was he coming to reclaim his room? It turns out that he was simply a daredevil who wasn’t into the idea of taking stairs, so he took the path less-traveled. He lived. We lived also.

Mexico was great, especially the beach. The entire beach was very peaceful and the water was warm and clear, just like in the travel catalogs. Also, in the vicinity of the condo, the stores and restaurants were great and we were able to try new foods at very reasonable prices. My favorites were the mango chow for around $1, banana waffles for about $6, and a horchata drink for $.75.

Being in Mexico without any knowledge of the Spanish language wasn’t too bad until the one day that we left the tourist area and wandered into the heart of the city to try to play basketball. After driving to a basketball court at 8pm, we were surprised to see a group of about 30 people playing full-court soccer on the basketball court. My cousin suggested that we politely ask them to leave, but I didn’t think that “por favor, abra la ventana” would summarize our request, so we went to a local food stand instead.

At this stand, there was a little girl who wouldn’t stop staring at us, because apparently we didn’t look Mexican enough. Not one to shy away from a challenge, I immediately accepted the staring contest. She won after 2 minutes when I was forced to break eye contact to order. I asked the food stand worker, “what do you sell?” He said “qué??” At this point, the language divide wasn’t going to get any smaller, so I pointed to a random thing on the menu and handed him 100 pesos. When I got the ice pop of some sort, it was brown and tasted like sour grass, so I gave it a valiant effort to eat as much as I could tolerate, then I threw it away.

When it came time to leave and go to the airport, the number one tip that we learned was to try our best to avoid the police, as they tend to target tourists driving to the airport to extort money from them. So on the morning of our flight, I drove as slow as ever and kept a keen eye on my surroundings for police. We made it to the airport without any issues, so I took a sigh of relief and then boarded our flight for the next portion of our getaway— 24 hours in Miami.

My Peculiar PPL Insulated Water Bottle didn’t like the fact that I often travel without him, so to make it up to him I booked a special trip for the both of us to go to Washington, DC. Despite the fact that he lacked proper behavior from time to time, it was an enjoyable journey from start to end.

He has never been on a plane before, so I reserved a jet to fly us there. During take-off, he kept his nervous emotions bottled-up so I wouldn’t notice that he was scared.

After we were in the air, he was overflowing with such excitement that he eagerly borrowed my iPad to research the sites that he wanted to visit

Eventually he was tired of researching and he took a nap on the couch

After we arrived at to the hotel, he slept through the night and woke up the next morning ready to hit the town

He hasn’t learned how to ride a bike yet, so I carried him on the front of mine as we went to grab a bite to eat

We went to “Baked and Wired” to get breakfast and he ordered the ice cream sandwich because he’s a fan of cold things

After a couple of bites, he rolled over to take a siesta. While he slept, I finished the rest of his ice cream.

Then we hit the town and for some odd reason, he took a huge interest in water fountains. I guess he’s a fan of water.

He stood in awe of this fountain for a while and he even tried to convince me to let him hold some of the water. I said no because I had to draw the line somewhere!

He stood and admired the water for a while, but the people walking around it distracted him and partially obstructed his view…

…so he screamed at them until his head popped off. Eventually they left.

He asked me to take a picture of him in front of this water fountain so he could show his siblings

Then he wanted this picture to show his ex-girlfriend

Then he got carried away and jumped in the fountain

We watched a little bit of art

This was his favorite quote, so he wanted a photo in front of it.

Then he went back to admiring water

Then he was tired of walking around…

…so I had to carry him.

While pedaling to our next location, he spotted a flag of Trinidad and Tobago (my birth country), so he wanted to take a picture of me standing in front of it. Unfortunately, his photo taking skills aren’t very good.

He stared at The Reflecting Pool

Then he stared at the Lincoln Memorial

Then he wanted a photo with one of his favorite people– Martin Luther King Jr. I told him that this was merely a memorial of MLK Jr. He didn’t believe me and called me a liar. Rude!

While I watched the Jefferson Memorial, he admired the water in front of it

All of a sudden, he took an interest in Space technology because he saw that he resembled the Saturn V rocket

Then he saw the model of the first plane and was convinced that Peculiar PPL could build a better one.

He kept complaining that he was thirsty, so I bought a Passion Tea Lemonade for him. He tried to make the Starbucks cup his next girlfriend, but I told him to behave himself.

Then after a couple more sites, we went to Union Station and prepared to head home

On the train, he sat in his seat and patiently awaited our arrival at our destination.

But before leaving, he asked me to hold him up to the window so he could stare at the water.

He thought that this was the best trip ever— not because of the sites in Washington, DC, but because he was able to see a bunch of different bodies of water. If I knew that he was this fascinated by water, I would have let him stare at the faucet every time I washed the dishes. Now that I see that he is a cool and compact travel companion, I will probably take him everywhere I go from now on!

Last week I wanted to go away for a day but I also wanted to be back home to see the Warriors destroy the Cavaliers. That’s when I got the idea to see how many forms of transportation I can take in one day and still be home by 9pm. So I hatched a rough plan and I texted my cousin to see if he wanted to accompany me on this journey.

The message was simple:

Based on my vague text message, he had no clue of the journey that awaited us, but thanks to careful planning, the plan was as follows:

Drive in a car to Hoboken

Sail in a boat to NYC

Fly in a Helicopter to White Plains, NY

Fly in a plane to Boston, MA

Scoot on a Segway through Boston, MA

Drive in a car to Bedford, MA

Fly in a plane back to White Plans, NY

Fly in a Helicopter back to NYC

Sail on a boat back to Hoboken

Ride home on a unicorn…or in a car, whichever was more readily available

Less than 24 hours later, our journey began…

There was a mix-up with the helicopter departure time, which gave the pilot 7 minutes to fly from NYC to White Plains. Luckily, he was up for the challenge and he flew that tiny helicopter as if he was flying the President on a quick mission to Baghdad.

After we landed, the helicopter pilot released us to the jet pilots and we got ready for the next part of the journey.

Placing my legs on the seat in front of me goes against everything that my mom taught me about manners and etiquette, but as a 6 foot tall human on a small plane, leg room is quite limited. I always ensure that my shoes are clean and, when possible, I place something under my shoes to make sure that the seats aren’t dirtied. Sorry mom!

We landed, took a quick picture in front of the jet and we proceeded to the next form of transportation

The rental car awaited us at the airport and within seconds we were on our way to the city area of Boston

We got our energy for the day at Blunch and then we rented Segway Scooters to scoot around the town like a bunch of mall cops

While riding through the town for a couple of hours, we attracted a lot of stares and snickers from people who stared at the Segway. Some people pointed and laughed while others gave the thumbs-up. The Segway isn’t my preferred form of transportation, but it was a fun and efficient way to see the city for the day. Towards the end of our journey, we saw a random Segway tour and we joined them and pretended that we were with there from the start.

After the Segway, it was time to head home, so we went to the Hawker 850XP jet that was waiting for us and we began the trip back

I’ve been on a handful of private jets in my life, but this one was hands-down the best one that I’ve ever experienced. It was beautiful. Here’s a quick tour around the cabin.

Every flight is always stocked with unlimited beverages. They’re all buried in this mini ice coffin.

I don’t drink alcohol, so these drinks didn’t appeal to me. But if I drank, all of these bottles would be empty…or stored in my bag for future use.

There is also a drawer of snacks for the hungry, or the greedy.

With all of this gold and polished wood, this bathroom seemed to belong in an apartment-sized villa or something of the sort.

I laid for the majority of the flight back, which was a quick 30 minute hop back to White Plans

When we landed, the plane pulled directly up to the helicopter that would shuttle us back to NYC

We arrived back in NYC in minutes and sailed back to Hoboken.

Thanks to the near-flawless execution of the plan, I was able to make it home in time to see game 4 of the NBA Finals! This trip was one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life and I feel immensely blessed to be able to experience it all! People who have known me for years can remember the times when I would ambitiously dream about experiences like these and I would always say, “one day it’s going to happen…soon!” In the middle of this trip, it hit me that I am finally able to get a taste of the experiences that I’ve dreamed of (and had faith for) for years and I am both amazed and and humbled by it.

One of my friends highly recommended Charleston, South Carolina as a place that I should visit, so I hopped on a plane and flew over at the first opportunity that I got. Although my family stopped there on a road trip about a decade ago, I didn’t remember too much about the place and had relatively low expectations about what I would see. However, when I landed, I was quite pleasantly surprised by what I saw. I was so enamored by the city of Charleston that I spent a few minutes looking for a house to purchase at a reasonable price. After I found a house that I liked, I checked the price and saw $7.5MM and this brought my housing search to an abrupt close.

The most bizarre part of the trip came when I decided to rent a scooter. I approached the scooter rental counter, handed over my money, and waited for a full orientation of the scooter’s workings and how to navigate without falling. Instead, he said, “go ride in a circle around the parking lot so I can see that you can ride.” I said, “um…HOW??” He responded, “just twist the handle and keep your balance.” Somehow I was able to pass the “ride around the parking lot” test, which qualified me to drive in the street with actual cars driving around me. But first I proceeded to get my helmet. Instead of handing me a helmet, he said, “ok, have fun!” I said, “wait, you forgot to give me a helmet.” He laughed and responded, “you don’t need a helmet—just take these sunglasses.” So you’re telling me that the sunglasses will protect my skull in case I lose control of this scooter?? Ok, cool.

I took-off down the road driving what felt like 120mph when suddenly a Jeep drove inches behind me and pressed his horn. I looked down and checked my speed, only to see that I was driving 7mph. I sped up to 20mph and hoped that I didn’t lose control and put my supposed “skull protecting sunglasses” to the test. Eventually I became comfortable with maneuvering and I zipped through traffic on the scooter with an engine that sounded like the world’s loudest mosquito.

All-in-all, I loved the city and will definitely return. Charleston, you’re amazing…stay that way!

Probably the most beautiful bridge that I’ve ever driven on

The horse and carriage parked in a parking space and blended-in perfectly.

I ordered breakfast and they gave me a biscuit. I was confused.

This was my cayenne pepper, chocolate cookie that I willingly ate and enjoyed with a side of milk

When I was in school, Spring Break was a relatively dull week spent at home staring at the wall. Every year I passed the time by messaging my friends on AOL Instant Messenger, riding my bike in circles since I wasn’t allowed to leave the front of the house, and watching The Maury Povich Show [don’t judge]. Now that I’m a grown man, I’ve got the opportunity to change things and make the break slightly more exciting for my brother.

Last week my brother had Spring Break and I texted him and said, “wanna go to Miami tomorrow?” Before I fully pressed the the send button, he replied “SURE!!!!” And just like that, we planned our quick getaway to Florida. We departed New Jersey early in the morning in order to give us lots of time to explore things and have fun before our departure the following day. As the plane touched down, National Car Rental met us at the door of the plane with their swanky rental car, and our adventure officially began.

Here are some photos from the escapade:

My brother enjoyed himself and in my opinion, this trip was much better than the trips that I used to take when I was his age—which were primarily trips to the refrigerator, and back to the couch to watch more Maury.